Hello all. Since I’ve been here at LJ’s I’ve noticed that a lot of you do photography. I am interested in purchasing a good used camera hopefully with some additional lenses and am wondering what I should be searching for. I want to use it for taking photos of my work, but I also want to start snapping pictures of random stuff for practice. I’d like to be able to take photos and then have them put onto a jump drive or something to download them to the comp. I am saying this because for the budget we are talking about I will most likely have to have a film camera, not a digital. So I would probably take the film to Kinkos or the like to have them developed and downloaded. I’m a complete amatuer to this and have no problem saying that I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I use a digital Canon power shot A590 and a Kodak easy share ZD710 right now and the pictures always seem to come out blurry and not to the level I’d like. I feel like I steady the camera enough to not have blur from motion. It looks blurry in the screen as if they are not focusing properly. Not sure what to do other then start searching for a better camera. Any thoughts are much appreciated.

-- ~ Inspiring those who inspire me ~

34 replies so far

I don’t know much about film cameras except that I’m glad not to have to develop pictures any longer. I have the Canon 1000 and find that it works just fine. In fact I’m amazed at how most of today’s cameras are easy to get a good clear picture. The ability to download them into a picture storage program on my computer and print them out or archive them is by far much beyond the shoe boxes filled with snaps. You can still bring them to a store and have them printed. As far as lenses. There are some digital slr’s that take lenses. I often thought I should have one of those but the stability of these little digitals along with the macro function makes it easy to do closeup’s too. Your 590 should be a good camera.

-- The smell of wood, coffee in the cup, the wife let's me do my thing, the lake is peaceful.

The Kodak is a fine camera. It’s not the camera, but it is you being unsteady, to be blunt about it.

If it’s like my Kodak P850, it’s got a dial on top as do SLR film cameras, but there’s a setting that might say SCN, and let’s you try different settings. Try the icon that looks like a runner, that’s the sports setting and you’ll at least get less blurry pics that way, see how that works, and if nothing else, try a tripod. Even a tabletop tripod is a good buy for less than $5-10. From there, try all the different settings until you find one that works best for you.

There’s no reason to “go backwards” to film, if you have a quite capable digital camera. I went from a $2500 SLR film Camera to a $300 Digital that did nearly everything I wanted, then after over 10,000 digital photo’s, I got a Nikon Digital SLR camera that uses the lenses from the old SLD film Cam.

Your digital camera should be capable of taking sharp, clear photos. Either it is defective, or you are doing someting wrong. A lot of people develop a flinch. Many digital cameras have a slight delay. You’ll press the shutter release, but you have to hold it a second before you move a muscle. If you just press and move, your photo will be blurry. Also, the brighter the lighting, the less the chance of blurring, because the camera will automatically be selecting a higher shutter speed in bright light.

I still have a cannon rebel slr film camera. Loved it but the digitial bug caught me and it was collecting dust. Had a fellow teacher that paid nearly a grand for a digital version, 8mp, and he let me try it. I fell in love with everything but the price tag. Kept an eye out on ebay about 2 years ago. I mispelled cannon and found one that no one was bidding on. Got it for $350. Yeah! Even my zoom lense from my old SLR works. Lost track of how many pics I take, just cant count that high. Love the high speed sports/aciton shot. I go to an event like Monster trucks or Ice skating and take 500 pics. I usually end up deleting 490 of them, but the ones I get with that high speed shutter are awesome. Also by having an SLR they are a little bigger and force you to stabilize your elbows, plus the shutter is instant when you press the button, no waiting to charge up, just click and you have a pic. Good luck.

My 2 cents. If you want a good film camera check around for a used Canon AE-1. I shot an AE-1 for years doing photos for motorcycle magazines. The FD Model lenses, that’s what the AE-1 uses, should be reasonably priced I’d start with a 35-135 zoom lens with close focus and that should take care of business.I now have a Canon A-1 and it has more bells and whistles than you should ever need. Did I say I’m a film fan? I have a Canon higher end digital and the film camera takes better pictures. And take a photography class of read a good basic camera book.

FedEx Office (The former Kinkos, my employer) doesn’t do film developing, just digital prints and color copies. I saw today in the Sunday adverts that you can get an Olympus 8 megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom for 88 bucks. You might spend a little for a used tripod and see if that helps before investing in another camera. Also you don’t need to hold down the shutter release until the picture snaps – when the wife let me in on that little secret things got much better.

I have a simple point and shoot Samsung digital that is 4 years old and that is what I take all of my photos with. It has the benefit of being able to use the manual setting for total control. I love the photos that it takes and it is only a 7 megapixel when used on the highest quality setting. But then it eats up the SD card because it is a TIFF setting?

Anyway, I am in love with the digital cameras and using my Apple computer.

If you are truly interested I have a Nikon 6006 SLR that takes great photos. I have a couple of lenses, a flash, some filters, and a nice bag if you truly are interested. I would make you a good deal to know that it went to a good home. (This camera was not dropped down the side of a mountain like my video camera.)

My fiance and I have just started getting into pictures. We noticed we didn’t have very many of us together so we’re making up for it. My advice would be to use a tripod. You can find them cheap and they are well worth it. Also I recommend reading about the capabilities and functions of your camera. That sounds like generic advice but you’d be amazed how many people go out and buy nice new electronics and have no idea what it’s capable of. They just use the basic settings. When i buy new electronics I’m always reminded of my favorite customer when I worked at Best Buy. He came in with a computer problem and told me his cup holder was broken. When I looked at it I quickly realized that the cup holder he referred to was the cd tray! He really had no idea what his computer can do.

I have an old CANON G2 (the current model is G10!) 4.0 Megapixels, bough it used 5 years ago ($200) and is still giving me excellent results, it’s not the basic “point and shot” camera, is a bit more advanced with cool features…So, with cheaps or old cameras like mine, it’s still possible to take good shoots….Have you consider to take a basic course of photography?You’ll discover it’s not about expensive equipment, but the basics of photography are necesary.

-- Nature is my manifestation of God. I go to nature every day for inspiration in the day's work. I follow in building the principles which nature has used in its domain" Frank Lloyd Wright

As one of part time jobs I do wedding photography and digital cameras are great. Film cameras, (I miss them), are very expensive to develop no days and slower film is harder to come by. As the three things that are important to every photographer I know, “tripod, tripod, tripod”. Tripods take more time but will give better results if your are not absolutly rock steady.

Digital is the only way to go today. You can take great photos with a 4 mp camera, as long as you frame it right & not try to blow up the print too big. The biggest keys to taking good photos, Digital OR film is proper lighting & a rock steady tripod. You can’t beat the editing ability of digital over film. Long term, Digital is WAY cheaper AND better in many other areas. Yes, a “pro” could take great photos & the prints will probably last longer and maybe look better but your digital files will out last any negative and with the right “magic” of PhotoShop you can do just as well .

That A590 will take awesome pictures, but get a tripod, and then experiment with light: Indoors on a bright sunny day, out of direct light but near a window is a good start. The digital camera will take care of a lot of color balance, but be aware that different kinds of light will give your picture different colors, especially when you mix them.

And turn off the in-camera flash.

The A590 also has a manual mode, so you can play with depth of field. Figure out the limitations of that camera and then you can spend money on something more.

I’ll second Dan, learn to work with Light as this is what photography is all about. get a good/decent tripod.

as for budget – today’s digital cameras are really not that expensive, esp. if you find something on eBay, or Craigslist.org (just be careful of scams) there really is no need to go ‘film’ these days, as the entire industry is moving away from it.

I have a Canon 10D that can be found for a good bargain these days (I got it when it just came out, but it seems like ages ago) – If budget is a thing – I’d go with a Digital Canon Rebel – you can find even better deals on those. and get a decent lens to start off with (something in the 50-100 range) you can then grow with it as your photography skills grow and you learn what you want.

I just had to comment on LocalMacs’ post. I understand the intent…. BUT as a photographer of 40+ years from HS, Military, and Medical field now retired. Thats like saying ‘if you can’t hand cut dove tail joints realy well then stick to Omnijig.
My love for wood working, photography and for that matter computers is the foundations. If you understand hand tools, you appreciate power tools. Have the fundamentals of film, and you take a better digital photo. Have to program a computer using punch cards, and enjoy the simplicity of posting a note to Lumberjocks on a laptop. Kolwdwrkr.. I hope I commented on the original post, for you in a round about way.